Paintball Magazine Premier Issue, May 2015 | Page 44

Vienna United lost their opening game to Spain’s FiveStar
Lleida came back with a vengeance. In their first game
on Sunday that speed-bumped Cologne Hurricanes 4-0.
Then they won a really tough game against Moscow Red
Storm 4-3. In the semif inals they again beat a really good
Manchester Firm team 4-3, which set up a rematch of
their very first game and their only loss against FiveStar.
This time Vienna United took control from the opening
point to the final 4-2 win.
The SPL 2 preliminary rounds were interesting. This was
the only division that saw three teams lead the group
with losses in the first round. Translation: Parity reigns in
the SPL2. But even with parity as the theme of the SPL
2, there still has to be a winner and this one set itself
apart from the pack early on. Dynamix Metz won their
three preliminary round games 4-0, 4-1, 4-1 and never
looked back. In the finals they beat Druid Celtic Saulx Les
Chartreux 3-1, celebrating their SLL2 win in style.
Headshot Moscow looked solid from the get-go in
the OD1 division (Open Division), winning all of their
preliminary round games and taking their group. In their
Sunday game Headshot separated themselves from the
pack as they played their best ball of the event. Their only
real challenge came from Izmir Angelpark, but in the end
they pulled that one out as well. In the finals they beat
Elite Ile D Oleron 4-2 to take first in OD1.

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OD2 saw an all-France final between Tolouse Dagnir
Dae and Family St. Tropez. Dagnir Dae battled to a 3-2
win to take the division. Berlin Damage beat Gladiatori
Unicusano from Italy to take the OD3 title.
Ten nations were represented in the Veterans division at
Puget-Sur-Argens, France. While Russia dominated the
five team group A, Norway swept through group B in the
preliminaries. But neither of these two teams would be
able to keep up their level of play throughout. In the end
it was France beating Great Britain 4-0 in the finals.
Warren Pitterson of Manchester Firm won the one-onone event.
As the event comes to a close here in France I realize that
this was one of the better events I’ve been to in a long
time. And the fact is this was just another day in the life
of the Millennium Series. I was fortunate to spend a lot of
time with the Millennium Series partners this week here
in Puget-Sur-Argens, and one thing I noticed was they all
refer to the teams/players as “customers.” As I leave the
grounds of Family Paintball I realize that’s the difference
between the Millennium Series and the competition in
the U.S. the past few years. Hopefully the NXL will bring
this tradition home. • • •